New to ChromeOS... Dual Boot?

[Capy]

Is it possible to dual boot ChromeOS (or ChromiumOS) and Windows 7
(like Windows 8 CP)? I want to try ChromeOS but do not want to
overwrite Windows. I do not think Hexxeh's builds support dual boot,
and I do not know much about compiling.

[Mike Frysinger]

install it onto a usb stick and boot it from that
-mike

[GTRsdk]

It should be possible to just boot from USB stick. After you write and
image to the USB stick, it should work as a full Chomium OS install.

P.S. Chome OS is not the same as Chromium OS (missing things like
netflix support), but it is as close as you can get without buying a
Chromebook.

[Capy]

So, it is difficult to do a dual boot (partitioned HDD) like Windows 8
CP + Windows 7? I would rather not have a USB stick sticking out of
my laptop. If so, which image would I write to the USB stick, and how
would I do that? Also, how do I update ChromiumOS (does it have
autoupdate)?

[Mike Frysinger]

it's up to the end user to deploy updates. auto-updates only apply to ChromeOS.

i imagine dual booting is possible, but it's not something we ever
really look into. i.e. you're on your own unfortunately.
-mike

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[Capy]

Ok, so USB boot sounds best. Could you give me a brief overview of
the process (or send me to an info page).? Also, does "deploy
udpates" mean I have to recreate the USB every time an update arrives,
or can I just click a "check for updates" button?

On Apr 27, 1:26 pm, Mike Frysinger <vap...@chromium.org> wrote:
> it's up to the end user to deploy updates.  auto-updates only apply to ChromeOS.
>
> i imagine dual booting is possible, but it's not something we ever
> really look into.  i.e. you're on your own unfortunately.
> -mike
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 13:22, Capy <codyku...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So, it is difficult to do a dual boot (partitioned HDD) like Windows 8
> > CP + Windows 7?  I would rather not have a USB stick sticking out of
> > my laptop.  If so, which image would I write to the USB stick, and how
> > would I do that?  Also, how do I update ChromiumOS (does it have
> > autoupdate)?
>
> > On Apr 27, 1:15 pm, GTRsdk <rs.matthewcom.i...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> It should be possible to just boot from USB stick. After you write and
> >> image to the USB stick, it should work as a full Chomium OS install.
>
> >> P.S. Chome OS is not the same as Chromium OS (missing things like
> >> netflix support), but it is as close as you can get without buying a
> >> Chromebook.
>
> > --

> > Chromium OS discuss mailing list: chromium-os-disc...@chromium.org

[Mike Frysinger]

pretty sure hexxeh's site has details on creating a bootable USB image
from his downloads

as for updates, you have to build the updates yourself, launch your
own update server, and have your machine look for that server. it's
probably easier to just reflash a new release when one is available on
hexxeh.net.
-mike

On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 13:41, Capy <cody...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, so USB boot sounds best.  Could you give me a brief overview of
> the process (or send me to an info page).?  Also, does "deploy
> udpates" mean I have to recreate the USB every time an update arrives,
> or can I just click a "check for updates" button?
>
> On Apr 27, 1:26 pm, Mike Frysinger <vap...@chromium.org> wrote:
>> it's up to the end user to deploy updates.  auto-updates only apply to ChromeOS.
>>
>> i imagine dual booting is possible, but it's not something we ever
>> really look into.  i.e. you're on your own unfortunately.
>>

[Capy]

I wish ChromiumOS had an update system. Thanks for the help though.

[Steve Pirk]

Also, Doug Anson of Dell puts out images every now and then. His release notes list what different Dell laptops he has verified as working.

http://linux.dell.com/files/cto

-- steve

--

Chromium OS discuss mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org

[Mike Frysinger]

it depends on what you mean by "an update system". when you boot
ChromiumOS, it supports pulling from an update server. it's just on
the head of the guy booting/deploying to also run the update server
and create+post updates himself.

Google only ships ChromeOS and provides updates as well as update
servers for ChromeOS installs to pull from. since ChromiumOS could
(quite literally) be built in an infinite number of ways for different
machines, it's unfeasible to provide update services to devices
running ChromiumOS.
-mike

[Liam McLoughlin]

I did try this at one point, but one of the problems I encountered was
that the USB stick images don't have the ROOT-B partition the same
size as the ROOT-A partition by default, and so updates just fail
instantly after they're finished downloading.

Also, AU would be incompatible with Lime, given that it makes changes
to the rootFS each boot.

I'm happy to run the servers, but that'd mean making the USB image
larger, and I get enough people complaining it's too large as it is.

[Mike Frysinger]

On Sat, Apr 28, 2012 at 11:09, Liam McLoughlin wrote:
> I'm happy to run the servers, but that'd mean making the USB image
> larger, and I get enough people complaining it's too large as it is.

i hope you've got the bandwidth laying around ;)
-mike

[Steve Pirk]

I was going to mention that Liam could always host the usb images from his Google Drive, but methinks The Google might notice and drop some hints about excessive bandwidth. 

;-)

-- steve

--
Chromium OS discuss mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org

[Derek Boehning Anderson]

I am curious when chromium is recognized on a usb drive does it give you the option of booting to the normal os or does it automatically boot to chromium.  If it does auto-boot is there a way to program a simple a menu which would give you the options.

1.  Boot to Windows XP as normal?

or

2.  Boot to Chromium?

[Mike Frysinger]

the boot loader is not interactive. it looks at the GPT table to see
what is set active and boots that. what you decide to set up there
(u-boot, Linux kernel, something else) is up to you.
-mike

> --

[Jamison Lofthouse]

Chromium OS only uses Syslinux which can have menus but it doesn't and you will have to download the module and configure it. As with a dual boot, it is very hard to dual boot since the new builds have 12 GPT partitions and GPT isn't supported by Windows. Windows and Chromium OS both will want to be the only OS (the Windows and Chromium OS install programs wipe your hard drive). Your best bet is to just stick to a USB drive.

[Mike Frysinger]

for official devices, we don't use syslinux, even when booting ChromiumOS

I'm pretty sure windows supports gpt
-mike

--

[Victor Khimenko]

On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 12:20 AM, Mike Frysinger <vap...@chromium.org> wrote:

for official devices, we don't use syslinux, even when booting ChromiumOS

I'm pretty sure windows supports gpt

We are talking XP here, right? XP does not support GPT at all and even for Windows 7 you need UEFI if you want to actually boot the beast: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx

The fact that you can use GPT "for data only" disks does not help with dual boot, obviously.

[Christian Ereira]

One way you could do it is by using Virtualbox. It is a program that you download for windows and is able to open up a separate OS in a separate window without overwriting anything! Hexxeh has the downloads for Virtualbox on his site! This would probably defeat the purpose of Chromium as it is designed to be fast, but it is still a easy to install, dual booting, alternative to a USB boot.

[Christian Ereira]

The way you would change you OS back and forth is by going into your boot order (spam esc, f1, f10 or whatever the key is for your computer on boot) and swapping the USB flash memory with your hard drive windows is on.

[Chris S]

i would imagine you could just install chromiumOS (using the entire disk)  then shrink/resize the partition for the other OS, then install a bootloader

[Isky Hassan]

Actually, it is possible to dualboot ChromiumOS and Window7. There are two tutorials online which I used to set up my dualboot, which worked fine until some fancy fiddling on my part screwed up my boot partition and forced me to reinstall everything. So yeah, use at your own risk and back up everything if you want to dual-boot.